Search a film or person :
FacebookConnectionRegistration
Pulgasari is a film of genre Drama directed by Shin Sang-ok

Pulgasari (1985)

Pulgasari
If you like this film, let us know!
Length 1h35
Directed by
Genres Drama,    Fantasy,    Action,    Horror
Rating53% 2.6593252.6593252.6593252.6593252.659325

Pulgasari (Chosŏn'gŭl: 불가사리; RR: Bulgasari) is a 1985 North Korean monster film produced by Korean Film Studio and directed by Shin Sang-ok and Chong Gon Jo. The film starred Chang Son Hui and Pak Sung Ho and featured special effects by Duk Ho Kim, supervised by Teruyoshi Nakano. The film was loosely based on the legend of the Bulgasari. Director Shin had been kidnapped in 1978 by North Korean intelligence on the orders of Kim Jong-il, son of the then-ruling Kim Il-sung.

Kim was a lifelong admirer of the director, as well as Godzilla and other Kaiju films. He kidnapped the former director and his wife, famous actress Choi Eun-hee, with the specific purpose of making fantasy/propaganda films for the North Korean government. Kim Jong-il also produced Pulgasari and all the films that Sang-ok made before he and Choi managed to escape from their minders while on tour in Austria.

Teruyoshi Nakano and the staff from Japan's Toho studios, the creators of Godzilla, participated in creating the film's special effects. Kenpachiro Satsuma – the stunt performer who played Godzilla from 1984 to 1995 – portrayed Pulgasari, and when the Godzilla reimagining was released in Japan in 1998, he was quoted as saying he preferred Pulgasari to Emmerich's "Godzilla".

Synopsis

In feudal Korea, during the Goryeo Dynasty, a king controls the land with an iron fist, subjecting the peasantry to misery and starvation. An old blacksmith who was sent to prison creates a tiny figurine of a monster by making a doll of rice. When it comes into contact with the blood of the blacksmith's daughter, the creature springs to life, becoming a giant metal-eating monster named Pulgasari.

Trailer of Pulgasari

Bluray, DVD

Streaming / VOD

Source : Wikidata

Comments


Leave comment :

Suggestions of similar film to Pulgasari

There are 18 films with the same director, 78376 with the same cinematographic genres (including 83 with exactly the same 4 genres than Pulgasari), 3147 films with the same themes (including 71 films with the same 4 themes than Pulgasari), to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.

If you liked Pulgasari, you will probably like those similar films :
Mayumi: Virgin Terrorist, 1h50
Directed by Shin Sang-ok
Genres Drama, Spy
Themes Spy films, Films about terrorism, Transport films, Aviation films, Political films, Disaster films, Films about aviation accidents or incidents
Actors Reiko Oshida, Sora Jung, George Kennedy, Shin Seong-il, Choi Jong-won, Choi Jong-hwan
Rating50% 2.5078452.5078452.5078452.5078452.507845
Two North Korean agents, carrying Japanese passports bearing the names "Shinichi" and "Mayumi", plan to explode a Seoul-bound plane in mid-air. They are diverted to another plane after they have planted the bomb. When the plane crashes, killing all on board, the two plan to commit suicide. The man succeeds, but the woman is saved through medical intervention. When she witnesses the suffering of the surviving families of the bombing victims, she begs to be executed, believing it is the only fitting punishment for her actions.
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, 1h36
Directed by Shūsuke Kaneko
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Films about animals, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Animaux préhistoriques, Mise en scène d'une tortue, Giant monster films, Gamera, Reptile, Disaster films
Actors Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ayako Fujitani, Shinobu Nakayama, Yukijirō Hotaru, Akira Kubo, Jun Fubuki
Rating67% 3.360973.360973.360973.360973.36097
A ship carrying plutonium collides with a floating atoll off the eastern coast of the Philippines, one of many incidents occurring throughout the area. As the anomalous formation approaches Japan, a team of scientists led by Naoya Kusanagi (Akira Onodera) discover orihalcum amulets and a stone slab covered in Etrurian runes on the atoll. During the investigation, the atoll suddenly quakes, destroying the slab and throwing the scientists into the ocean. One member of the team, Marine Officer Yoshinari Yonemori (Tsuyoshi Ihara), sees the eye and tusk of a giant turtle.
Gamera vs. Barugon, 1h41
Directed by Shigeo Tanaka
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Films about animals, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, Films about music and musicians, La préhistoire, Transport films, Animaux préhistoriques, Mise en scène d'une tortue, Giant monster films, Musical films, Gamera, Reptile, Disaster films
Actors Kyōko Enami, Ichirō Sugai (菅井一郎)
Rating51% 2.5698252.5698252.5698252.5698252.569825
Set after the events of Gamera, a meteorite collides with the rocket transporting the creature to Mars. Now free, Gamera returns to Earth and destroys Kurobe Dam in Japan. At the same time three mercenaries are sent by Kano, a WWII veteran, to an island in the South Pacific to retrieve a huge opal he once found and hid in a cave. Despite warnings from the local villagers, the trio find and locate the opal, but one dies from a fatal scorpion sting. The second man, Keisuke, Kano's younger brother, is betrayed by his fellow expeditioner Onodera and apparently killed in a cave-in.
Godzilla
Godzilla (2014)
, 2h3
Directed by Gareth Edwards
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Action, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Dinosaur films, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Films about religion, Transport films, Films set in the future, Animaux préhistoriques, Giant monster films, Political films, Dystopian films, Alternate history films, Godzilla films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Arme nucléaire, Disaster films, United States Armed Forces in films
Actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, David Strathairn, Juliette Binoche, Richard T. Jones
Rating63% 3.1994253.1994253.1994253.1994253.199425
In 1954, a nuclear bomb is detonated at the moment a giant creature emerges from the ocean. In 1999, Project Monarch scientists Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham investigate a colossal skeleton unearthed in a collapsed mine in the Philippines. They find two spores; one dormant and one hatched that made a trail into the sea. In Japan, the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant experiences unusual seismic activity and Supervisor Joe Brody sends his wife Sandra and a team of technicians into the reactor. A tremor breaches the reactor, leaving Sandra and her team unable to escape while the plant collapses.
Terror of Mechagodzilla, 1h23
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Dinosaur films, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Films set in the future, Animaux préhistoriques, Films about extraterrestrial life, Giant monster films, Godzilla films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Alien invasions in films, Robot films, Disaster films
Actors Katsuhiko Sasaki, Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara
Rating61% 3.063063.063063.063063.063063.06306
Continuing after the end of the previous film, Interpol agents, led by Inspector Kusaka, search for the wreck of Mechagodzilla at the bottom of the Okinawan Sea. Using the submarine, Akatsuki, they hope to gather information on the robot's builders, the alien simians. The Akatsuki is suddenly attacked by a giant aquatic dinosaur called Titanosaurus, and the crew vanishes.
Mothra vs. Godzilla, 1h29
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Dinosaur films, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Animaux préhistoriques, Films about insects, Les fées, Giant monster films, Godzilla films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Disaster films
Actors Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yu Fujiki, Kenji Sahara, Haruo Nakajima
Rating65% 3.2558153.2558153.2558153.2558153.255815
News reporter Ichiro Sakai and photographer Junko Nakanishi take pictures of a wreckage caused by a typhoon. They uncover a strange, bluish-gray object in the debris, not knowing its significance. Later that day, a giant egg is discovered on the shore. The local villagers salvage it, and an entrepreneur of Happy Enterprises named Kumayama buys the egg from the local villagers. Instead of letting scientists study the egg, Kumayama wants to make it into a large tourist attraction. Later, Sakai and Nakanishi are informed that the strange object they found is extremely radioactive. (It is later hinted that this is a skin particle from Godzilla.
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, 1h45
Directed by Shūsuke Kaneko
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Dinosaur films, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Animaux préhistoriques, Films about insects, Films about dragons, Les fées, Giant monster films, Godzilla films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Disaster films
Actors Chiharu Niiyama, Masahiro Kobayashi, Ryudo Uzaki, Kaho Minami, Masahiro Kobayashi, Shirō Sano
Rating70% 3.5063853.5063853.5063853.5063853.506385
During a meeting of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) for the potential return of Godzilla, Admiral Taizo Tachibana briefs cadets about Godzilla's first attack. A nuclear submarine is reported missing, which is later found to have been destroyed by Godzilla. Tachibana's daughter, Yuri Tachibana films a docudrama with her crew at Mt. Myoko, where a mysterious earthquake randomly ensues. The odd earthquake returns later that night burying a biker gang and leaving one surviving trucker who witnesses the monster, Baragon.
Godzilla 2000: Millennium, 1h47
Directed by Takao Okawara
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Dinosaur films, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Animaux préhistoriques, Giant monster films, Godzilla films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Disaster films
Actors Hiroshi Abe, Naomi Nishida, François Chau, Shirō Sano, Masahiko Nishimura, Jim Lau
Rating60% 3.0117553.0117553.0117553.0117553.011755
Godzilla is a literal force of nature to Japan. The Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) functions independently to study the monster and predict its landfalls. Meanwhile, the scientists of Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI) find a sixty million year old UFO deep in the Japan Trench. As CCI attempts to raise the UFO to study it, it takes off into the sky on its own. Godzilla arrives and battles the Japan Self Defense Forces, now equipped with powerful Full Metal Missiles, but the UFO appears, searching for genetic information that only Godzilla possesses. It defeats Godzilla, driving the monster underwater, and then lands to replenish its solar power.
Daimajin
Daimajin (1966)
, 1h24
Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Giant monster films, Disaster films
Actors Miwa Takada, Saburo Date
Rating66% 3.344473.344473.344473.344473.34447
The movie opens with a household of peasants cowering during a series of earth tremors that are interpreted as the escape attempts of Daimajin, a spirit trapped within the mountain. The village gathers at their shrine. This is observed by the local feudal boss, Lord Hanabasa, a good and just man. It is also observed by his treacherous chamberlain, Samanosuke (Yutaro Gomi). Samanosuke has been waiting for just such a diversion to stage a coup d'état.
Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, 1h40
Directed by Shūsuke Kaneko
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Action, Horror
Themes Films about animals, La fin du monde, Kaiju films, Films about magic and magicians, Seafaring films, La préhistoire, Transport films, Films set in the future, Animaux préhistoriques, Mise en scène d'une tortue, Films about extraterrestrial life, Giant monster films, Gamera, Films about extraterrestrial life, Alien invasions in films, Reptile, Disaster films
Actors Toshiyuki Nagashima, Shinobu Nakayama, Miki Mizuno, Yukijirō Hotaru, Ai Maeda, Mitsuru Fukikoshi
Rating70% 3.5050453.5050453.5050453.5050453.505045
A year has passed since the battle between Gamera and the Gyaos, and Japan has struggled to rebuild its cities in the meantime. The military has kept a cautious vigil on the nation's coast, but so far Gamera has yet to return. Suddenly, a series of bizarre incidents reveal a new threat to the land of the rising sun. On a moonlit stroll, science instructor Midori Honami watches as a huge meteor plunges into the mountain snow. The next night, two security guards are horrified as they see large insect-like creatures stealing glass bottles from a nearby warehouse. Soon after, the entire city of Sapporo is covered with strange plants and the link between these events soon becomes clear.